Top 5 Computer Viruses of All Time

WHAT WERE THE FIVE MOST CATASTROPHIC COMPUTER VIRUSES EVER AND HOW MUCH DAMAGE DID THEY CAUSE?

  

The fact that the internet has become the backbone of modern society means it has also become a prime target for hackers and crackers around the world. Find out about the most prominent and catastrophic computer viruses the world has ever seen and discover exactly what made them so damaging over here.

MYDOOM (2004)

• A worm that spread through email as what appeared to be a bounced messages
• When the unsuspecting victim opened the email, the malicious code downloaded itself and then pilfered the new victim’s Outlook address book.
• From there, it spread to the victim’s friends, family and colleagues. It spreads faster than any worm seen prior.
• Damages: $38,000,000,000
• PCs infected: 2,000,000

SOBIG. F (2003)

• Damages: $37,100,000,000
• PCs infected: 2,000,000
• A worm that replicates itself, but also is a Trojan, as it disguises itself as something other than malware.
• The flood of messages it then sent were capable of succumbing other users’ inboxes or computer systems by the sheer volume of emails. It briefly brought down freight and computer traffic in Washington, D.C. To a halt, grounded Air Canada and slowed down computer systems at major companies.

I LOVE YOU (2000)

• Damages: $15,000,000,000
• PCs infected: 500,000
• An innocent looking email attached email labelled as ‘I love You’
• As we opened the email, it will unleashed the malicious program that can overwrote the users’ image files. It was designed to steal your Internet password.
• It spread thru the Windows address book contacts.

CODE RED

• Damages: $2,600,000,000
• PCs infected: 1,000,000
• A worm that exploited the operating system in Windows 2000 and Windows NT
• This allowed it to deface and take down some websites, most memorably the whitehouse.gov website.
• The worm spread by randomly selecting 100 IP addresses at time, scanning the computers for the Microsoft system and spreading only to those computers.

SLAMMER

• Damages: $1,200,000,000
• PCs infected: 200,00
• An Internet worm also known as Sapphire. It causes the denial of service on some Internet hosts. It is spreading throughout the Internet. It worked by releasing the deluge of network packet data, units of data transmitted. 

Written By:

Nur Alia Zaharah Ab Rahim

Bachelor of Public Relations (Honours)

Tunku Abdul Rahman University College